The Perfect Time
by Alja
Summary: The final clash on the Keyblade Graveyard started and the severity of the situation hit Sora for the first time. They might fail. They might die. So he has to make a choice now. Sokai. Contains spoilers from the KH3 trailers.


**Disclaimer:** All characters belong to Disney/Square Enix.

I want to thank generalcaraway, rapis-razuri and scoobysnack1107 on tumblr! The three of them came up with the idea of adapting a certain scene from Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End for Sokai and allowed me to run off with their idea and add my own twist to it :3

Special thanks go to phoenix-downer on tumblr, her translation and interpretation of the "Chikai" lyrics helped me a lot in adapting this scene for Sokai :D

 **Please enjoy!**

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Dust hit Sora's face as he stepped off of the gummi ship and onto the badlands. It was an unwelcoming world, void of vegetation and life. Somehow, it didn't surprise Sora that Xehanort had chosen this place for the final battle.

He turned around. As always, Donald and Goofy were right by his side, giving him an encouraging smile that calmed his nerves immediately. And they were not the only ones. More gummi ships landed and their passengers exited, throwing glances around the world before all of their eyes landed on Sora, immediately softening their expressions.

Together, they would end this insanity, he was sure of it.

Sora turned back forward and looked at a wall of dust far ahead. He didn't need to wait for a blurry figure to slowly become visible to know that Xehanort was near – the chaotic energy of an intense amount of Darkness was enough to warn him. Soon, Xehanort appeared clearer, his arms crossed behind his back as an arrogant smile spread over his lips. It didn't take long for shadowy figures to appear behind him, all dressed in their black coats, hoods drawn up to hide their faces.

Of course, he had come with his Seekers of Darkness, just as Sora had come with his Guardians of Light.

Xehanort stopped a good thirty meters away from Sora. The tension in the air rose as Xehanort spread his arms theatrically.

"Today," he started proudly, "we join the other Keyblade Wielders and leave our mark on fate. I have waited patiently," he clenched his fist and Sora heard the leather of his glove creak, "but together, we shall unlock the Keyblade War's secrets!"

With a wave of his hand, the dust to his right settled, allowing Sora and the others to see the field that spread along the horizon. Upon further inspection, Sora realized it was a field of abandoned Keyblades.

"Yes," Xehanort nodded as understanding spread over the faces of Sora and his companions, "this is what is left from the first Keyblade war. A true Keyblade Graveyard. And soon, your Keyblades will join them."

"Why?"

Xehanort quirked an eyebrow at Sora's sudden exclamation. Before he could answer the boy however, he continued. "Why are you doing this?"

A chuckle escaped the old man.

"Knowledge – and power. Whoever will open the door to Kingdom Hearts will be reborn as something far greater than human. And someone greater than human will be able to shape the world in their image. Finally, Light and Darkness will exist in true equilibrium and people will stop to shun the Darkness."

Sora snorted. "They only shun the Darkness because of people like you who abuse it."

"A dumb island boy like you wouldn't understand."

"Maybe. But at least I understand that life is precious and shouldn't be played with, unlike another _dumb island boy_."

Sora couldn't help the self-satisfied grin that spread on his lips after he heard Xehanort's low growl. Cockily, Sora flipped his hair back with a turn of his head and added: "We'll end this, here and now."

To his surprise however, Xehanort recovered and a wicked expression crossed his face as he raised his hand slowly.

"I was hoping you'd say that."

A cold shudder ran down Sora's back, but he didn't have time to contemplate Xehanort's words as he jerked his hand up quickly. The world began to tremble and the ground directly beneath Xehanort and his Seekers rose up high, far out of reach for the Guardians of Light.

"Let the Keyblade War begin!"

Xehanort snapped his fingers and somewhere far away, a clock chimed. One of the Seekers jumped off of the cliff, creating a small crater upon contact with the ground below him. Small black creatures started appearing, moving erratically around him and they revealed the Seeker's identity before he even lowered his hood: Ansem, Seeker of Darkness.

Several whizzing sounds resounded behind Sora and he now, too, flicked his wrist to summon his Keyblade before he charged.

Everything about this situation reminded him of the Battle of the one hundred Heartless back in Radiant Garden. Enemies started surrounding him quickly and every slash of his Keyblade hit another Heartless. With practiced ease, he rolled out of the way of a claw aimed at his head and with a single swing of his Keyblade, the Wyvern that had attacked him disappeared.

He heard a second far-away chime when the ground shook and more enemies started popping up: Nobodies. Xemnas must have joined the fight now and it made the battlefield more hectic.

Avoiding Nobodies was harder. They were pretty nimble and quick, nothing like the slow and sluggish heartless. They kept Sora on his toes and so it took him until the third clock chime to realize that he had lost sight of his friends.

Panic started to bubble up inside of him.

"Kairi! Riku!"

His attacks grew more hectic and less precise as he hacked his way through the battle field, searching frantically for his friends. He hadn't felt this panic back in the Radiant Garden fight – but his panic still seemed so strangely familiar, as if the memory of it was just out of his reach...

There!

 _Finally_ , he saw a glimpse of pink and silver in the distance and he followed this direction just in time to see a Neoshadow appear behind Kairi, its claws ready to sink deep into the unsuspecting girl's skin. Sora jumped and as he pierced the Heartless to protect her, he suddenly remembered.

This didn't remind him of the battle of the thousand Heartless in Radiant Garden. It reminded him of the battle upon the Black Pearl. And the panic hadn't been his – it had been Will's when he had been too scared to lose Elizabeth to waste another second.

And when Sora saw Kairi twirl gracefully to the side, shooting an icicle at an enemy that had tried to sneak up on Sora and his heart attempted to beat out of his chest, he finally understood Will's impromptu proposal.

It was now or never.

"Kairi!"

She didn't react immediately, being engrossed in a fight with one of Xemnas's Nobodies, so Sora grabbed her arm once she had defeated it and pulled her close. Confusion spread over the girl's face, but before she could ask him what was wrong, Sora already blurted it out.

"Will you share a paopu with me?"

Kairi's eyes widened and her mouth fell open as a soft blush started to spread on her cheeks.

A fourth chime resounded when suddenly, a Claymore separated Sora and Kairi from each other. They quickly recovered and parried Saix's attack.

"I don't think this is the best time!" Kairi squeaked, her voice an octave higher than usual as she threw a quick glance back to Sora. "We're in the middle of a battle here!"

Together, they were able to shove Saix back, just in time for Lea to swoop in with his Keyblade, engaging Saix in a one on one fight that allowed Sora and Kairi to take on new Heartless that were closing on on them.

"It's the _perfect_ time!" Sora shouted over his shoulder while slashing an attacking Dancer Nobody across the chest. "I might not get another chance to do this!"

The far-away clock chimed for a fifth time and it was the only warning Sora got before he ducked and rolled out of the way of a couple of arrows that were shot at him. Xigbar, hovering high above the ground, grinned as his relentless attack made it impossible for Sora to do anything but dodge and he thoroughly enjoyed it.

But that also meant that he completely neglected his cover.

Kairi seized her chance and sprinted towards him, using a Large Body's huge belly to propel herself into the sky. She grabbed Xigbar's arm and used her momentum to hurl him over her shoulder to the ground, away from Sora.

The latter had now jumped back into the fight and used a couple of fire spells to clear his way until he was close enough to grab Kairi's arm once more. She stumbled into him and the contact between them made Sora shiver at the same time that the sixth chime resounded over the land and thunder started rumbling in the distance. Sora ignored it however and only focused on Kairi, her body pressed flush against his, and he relished in how _right_ it felt to hold her like that.

"I'm done making empty promises. I love you and I want to be with you."

Again, Sora had rendered Kairi speechless as his steady gaze focused on her. His heart flipped when he saw Kairi's blush intensify and he felt the sudden need to lean down and –

The screech of a Nobody made the two of them jump apart, Keyblades raised high as they did their best to parry every attack, hacking and slashing at their enemies. This time when Sora reached out for Kairi, she extended her arm towards him, reaching out just as much and a short smile danced over Sora's lips as they pulled each other close.

"I've made my choice," Sora told her, expression as serious as he'd ever been in his life, "what's yours?"

Staring into his eyes, Kairi hesitated for a second, before replying.

"Riku."

Sora's face contorted in confusion and disbelief as he repeated her words.

"Riku?!" Sora would be lying if that didn't sting a little. But it made no sense for Kairi to say Riku's name, did it?

A huge grin spread over her lips and she couldn't control the giggle that escaped her as she confirmed it.

"Riku!"

As the clock chimed for the seventh time, Kairi turned away from Sora, but to his relief, she grabbed his hand and interlaced their fingertips as she pulled him along, eyes frantically searching for what he assumed to be their silver haired friend.

She finally spotted him a few meters away, defeating a Dusk that had tried to attack King Mickey and Sora felt himself being dragged closer to him, all while he kept swiping at the enemies that they passed.

"Riku!" She called out again, and a short glance her way told her she had his attention.

"Do you have the paopu with you?"

"Do I _what_?!"

Caught off guard by Kairi's question, Riku turned his body fully towards her which was a mistake. With the eighth chime, another Seeker jumped onto the battle field and exploited Riku's inattentiveness, kicking him in the gut. Not wasting a single second, Sora let go of Kairi's hand and charged at the hooded figure with Kairi on his heels. Thankfully, Riku recovered rather quickly and so the three of them exchanged blows with who turned out to be the Xehanort from the past.

"The paopu I asked you to get for me the next time you're on the play island," Kairi continued as if it was the most normal thing for her to ask this question while also cartwheeling out of the way of one of Xehanort's attacks at the same time. Meanwhile, Sora's nerves flared up upon hearing her words, making him stumble into his next attack.

 _Did this mean..?_

"I know which paopu you mean!" Riku replied impatiently as he went into Ghost Drive to charge at Xehanort, wearing him down enough for Sora to blast him away with a well timed Explosion.

After he high-fived Sora with a grin, he turned back to Kairi.

"Why are you asking?"

Kairi's cheeks flared up and that _definitely_ made Sora's heart pound faster. It also seemed to surprise and distract Riku, as none of them became aware of the Shadow Heartless that slowly appeared beneath their feet. He raised an inquisitive brow at which Kairi blushed harder still, but yet managed to give Sora the most dazzling and disarming smile they had ever seen.

"I want to share it with Sora."

A wonderful, amazing tingling feeling spread in Sora's chest and made his face light up upon hearing her words. Like the lovestruck fool he was, he immediately gravitated towards Kairi, dopey grin on his face, and reached for her free hand. She squeezed it lightly and Sora was ready to ascend to heaven then and there.

" _Now?_ " Riku yelled in disbelief, startling a few of the Shadows enough to cause them to puff away again as they heard the clock chime for the ninth time. Gambler Nobodies popped up out of nowhere, effectively separating the friends as they rolled, flipped and cartwheeled to safety, raising their Keyblades once they found stable footing again.

"So," Kairi spoke up again once she had defeated enough enemies, allowing her to take a breath again, "do you have it?"

Riku, who had just thrown his Keyblade at an enemy in an attempt of a Strike Raid attack threw an incredulous look at Kairi.

"I'm a little busy at the moment?!" He exclaimed and caught his Keyblade before doing a 360° turn, defeating several Heartless that had tried to swarm him with one swipe, "Can't you two wait until after the fight?"

Sora couldn't help the low whine that escaped his throat, and no matter how much Riku would tease him about it in the future, he would refuse to admit that in this moment his voice skipped a few octaves.

But it also caught Riku's attention, so Sora decided to pull his biggest guns: His puppy-dog eyes and infamous pout.

"Riku, _please_!"

As soon as Riku's eyes landed on him, he flinched, and Sora knew he had won.

"Fine, fine!" Riku sighed in exasperation, "Cover me!"

With his trademark grin, Sora immediately rushed to his best friend's side, keeping the enemies away from him as he rummaged around in his pants pocket until he got hold of the coveted fruit.

"Kairi, catch!"

Simultaneously with the tenth chime, Riku threw the paopu in the air, sending an Aero spell right after to ensure it would reach its destination that was Kairi's upturned palms. The moment the paopu was safely cradled between her hands, Riku and Sora changed places. Sora rushed to Kairi's side, fighting his way through a wall of enemies only to hesitate when he ended up in front of her. Suddenly, the teens grew aware of the severity of the commitment they were just about to take and both felt their cheeks flame up as they looked into each others' eyes. With a soft, uncharacteristically shy smile, Kairi held the paopu up in between them and Sora raised a shaking hand to grasp the other end of the fruit.

"From now on, I always want to be with you," Kairi declared and Sora gently moved the paopu towards Kairi's lips so she could take the first bite. A shudder ran through him when he felt her fingers move over his to grip the fruit more tightly to do so, before she pulled back.

To Sora's surprise, Kairi immediately summoned Destiny's Embrace again and charged forward, not letting go of the paopu while she stabbed the Neoshadow that had appeared behind Sora. He quickly returned the favor by attacking the Dusk that had started wiggling their skinny limbs in anticipation of wrapping them around Kairi's arms.

Safe for the moment, Sora swallowed thickly as his eyes found Kairi's again. He _had_ to make it perfect.

"I –"

The next shadowy figure appeared at the eleventh chime, landing right between Sora and Kairi, forcefully ripping them apart. The figure's gloved hand was clenched around the paopu.

"Isn't this cute?" The figure asked as he lowered his hood, revealing spiky, black hair and golden glowing eyes. _Vanitas_. "Gee, what should I do now? Squash this ridiculous fruit?" His grip on the paopu tightened and juice started to slowly trickle down his black leather glove. Anger started bubbling up Sora's chest. How _dare_ he? "Or would the princess love to her destiny to be intertwined with mine instead?" Vanitas asked her with a devious grin, the pitch of his voice lowering further as he raised the fruit up to his face. His fists already shaking, Sora was about to charge at his doppelganger when suddenly, the paopu was wrenched from Vanitas's hand with a spark and it came to hover over their heads. Before he knew what was happening to him, Braveheart crashed heavily into Void Gear, catching the boy off-guard and causing him to lose his footing for a second. Sora took advantage of the confusion and retrieved the floating paopu with a high jump as Riku put all of his weight into his Keyblade to keep Vanitas down.

"I've been waiting _three years_ for this to happen," Riku hissed and swung his Keyblade around, shoving Vanitas further away, "don't you _dare_ ruin this for them."

At this moment, Sora wanted to hug Riku. _Badly_.

It meant so much to him to see how much Riku wanted this for his friends, always supported their relationship even if it was more teasing than serious in the past. But hearing first-hand that his best friend was 100% supportive of them gave Sora a new confidence boost and with his heart at peace, he turned back to Kairi, and she eagerly curled her fingers around Sora's hand and the fruit.

"No more lies," Sora started and looked Kairi deep in the eyes, "no more empty promises. Starting today, I _swear_ we'll always be together .

Tenderly, Kairi maneuvered the fruit to Sora's lips. He bit a piece off, savoring its sweet taste all while never averting his gaze from Kairi.

This was it. They had finally shared a paopu.

Sora's heart was ready to burst from his chest with excitement when Kairi's smile widened into one of her toothy grins he so adored.

Laughter filled the air as Sora tugged Kairi closer to wind an arm around her waist and pressed his forehead against hers. He felt their breaths mingle and he was ready to seal their promise with a kiss – hadn't Unversed started to spawn right around them. Together, Sora and Kairi fought their enemies as the clock relentlessly chimed for the twelfth time, both still holding on to one end of the paopu each, connected by it and their oath.

This time, Kairi came closer to Sora and dismissed her Keyblade to snake an arm around the back of his neck and pull him all the way down, but again, they were surrounded by enemies that they had to finish off together.

When this happened for the third time, an exasperated "Wak!" startled Sora for a second and a barrier formed around him and Kairi. He blinked in confusion until he saw Donald, his trusty staff held high.

"Just kiss already!" He quacked at them impatiently, waving his staff around frantically and causing Sora to blush. He was moved by Donald's action, as he was by Goofy's encouraging nod, but it didn't make the matter any less embarrassing. A quick glance in Kairi's direction made him realize that Kairi didn't fare any better with the tips of her ears burning up, but nevertheless, she smiled sweetly at him and at this moment, he knew it didn't matter what everybody else thought or saw.

She was his home.

He dismissed his Keyblade and wrapped his free hand around Kairi's waist to pulled her closer. She immediately responded by brushing her hand through Sora's hair until she reached the nape of his neck. The paopu was safely cradled between their arms and bodies as Sora leaned in, finally embracing Kairi's lips with his own.

It was everything he ever dreamed of, he decided, as he felt Kairi's lips move against his, first slowly and shyly, then boldly and demanding. Sora barely heard the happy "Aaaaaw!" that escaped Donald and Goofy, nor did he really notice them clubbing and smacking a small Heartless with their weapons as it dared to interrupt their perfect moment of watching their honorary son finally kiss the love of his life. No, all of this was lost to him as he tasted cherry chapstick on Kairi's lips and took advantage of a small sigh of hers to deepen their kiss.

It was over way too quickly however when he heard the thirteenth chime. With how things had progressed so far, Sora knew which Seeker of Darkness would be entering the battlefield now, not to mention that with him, all Seekers and Guardians were finally engaged in battle.

Somewhat hesitantly, Sora and Kairi pulled back from their kiss, eyes glued to each other. Sora let his free hand glide along Kairi's cheek tenderly and she leaned into him for a moment, desperate to remember every single second of their moment. As Donald's barrier began to vanish, they separated reluctantly and Sora let their paopu slip into one of his pockets when Master Xehanort started approaching them. On his right side, he felt Kairi interlace her fingertips with his, on his left side, he felt Riku step up, Keyblade drawn and aimed at Xehanort. After squeezing Kairi's hands reassuringly and exchanging a nod with Riku, he summoned Kingdom Key again, followed by Kairi summoning Destiny's Embrace.

It was time to defeat Xehanort once and for all.


End file.
